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Idle Eye 55 : The Trial (Eye in the Dock)

Lord Justice Levity: Can we turn now to the issue of Idle Eye 54? The post about the origin of the Blues, in which the author attempts to draw some sort of humour from the unlikely premise that it stems from two Edwardian commuters?

General room mumble and rustling of papers

Mr Eye, could you step up to the dock? Thank you. Now, as you are no doubt aware, your most recent effort has been…how can I put this politely…abysmally received. Is that correct?

Idle Eye: I don’t recall.

LJL: Without putting too fine a point on it, Mr Eye, it was only seven days ago. Whilst I am aware that a week is a long time in politics, I did think there was a little more longevity in journalism.

Room titters

IE: It wasn’t one of our better ones, my Lord.

LJL: Let me put this to you, Mr Eye: Not only was it not ‘one of your better ones’, it fails at every level of your original brief. Would you say that’s fair?

IE: I would say that could be interpreted as a rather harsh assessment.

LJL: But it captures the gist?

IE: Perhaps.

LJL: Let’s look at the detail. Your two characters, ‘Howlin’ Norman Thompson and ‘Lonesome’ Larry, are two-dimensional to say the least, and if your objective is to make the point that your employer, one Mr Nibs of Barnes, is no virtuoso at playing the guitar, I would suggest that you exercise some clarity in any future endeavours.

IE: With respect, my Lord, most people who frequent the Idle Hour already know he’s a bit shite at it.

LJL: And the purpose of your blog is?

IE: To spread the word, my Lord.

LJL: Exactly. And how exactly do you think you are achieving this when you introduce a random, borderline racist, sexist stooge such as ‘Fat Mama’ O’Beace halfway through the piece for no apparent reason?

IE: In our defence, my Lord, we thought it would be amusing to juxtapose the situation, both personally and geographically. In retrospect, this may have been an oversight.

LJL: Your own mother failed to comprehend what you were trying to say, Mr Eye! So what chance did you imagine the rest of us would have?

IE: It was an error, my Lord, for which we can only apologise. Hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing.

LJL: And I quote: “What? No idea what that was about!” This was from an email dated 27th November 2012.

IE: May I ask how you came by this information, my Lord?

LJL: It would be unprofessional in the extreme to divulge our sources, Mr Eye. As well you know.

IE: I do understand.

LJL: You may be interested to learn that Mr Nibs of Barnes has stated he was ‘slightly amused’ by the piece.